One month after Nicolas Maduro won Venezuela's Presidential election, the country's right-wing Opposition are still refusing to accept the result and respect the will of the people, whilst conducting an orchestrated campaign of destabilisation in Venezuela. In this they are backed up by Washington, with the US Government still failing to follow Spain, France, the UK, Portugal and countries from across the globe in recognising Maduro's Presidency. This e-update looks at the truth behind the anti-democratic attempts to discredit Venezuela internationally, the increasingly hostile attitude of the US administration and how Latin America is united behind Maduro.

1)Audit of Venezuela's Presidential vote reveals 99.98% accuracy

Venezuela's independent National Electoral Council (CNE) has concluded the first stage of the auditof the vote initiated following April's Presidential election and has found "zero error". With 75% of the vote now audited, the level of accuracy with the first result is 99.98%

The audit came about after the losing candidate, Henrique Capriles, refused to accept the result of April's presidential election, that saw Nicolas Maduro elected, and instead claimed that fraud had been committed.

Whilst initially requesting and accepting a process that will mean 100% of all the votes were audited, Henrique Capriles has since said he will not recognise these results.

Commenting on the results of the audit Venezuela's Ambassador to the UK Samuel Moncada said:"This audit once again underlines the robustness and accuracy of Venezuela's voting system. That is why Nobel Prize winner Jimmy carter called Venezuela's electoral system the 'best on the world'

We had already had 18 audits of the election process for April's presidential vote and Henrique Capriles campaign team signed off all of these. Yet they now claim fraud and won't even accept the results of an audit they themselves had demanded.

It seems that Henrique Capriles is simply trying to sully the reputation of Venezuela's electoral process for political purposes rather than raising genuine concerns about Venezuela's voting system".

·Thisreport from Venezuela's independent National Electoral Council outlines the process of audits carried out during the presidential election which took place on 14 April.

2)Summary of CEPR pieces: The opposition is intent on trying to maintain a climate of uncertainty and political tension for as long as possible

Recent articles in the Venezuelan and international press, suggest that the Electoral Council’s rejection of the opposition’s demands is stoking the flames of political conflict in the country. However, as is often the case in the media’s coverage of Venezuela, much of the crucial context on the recent decisions of the National Electoral Council is missing.

Henrique Capriles, after the CNE announced that he’d lost the elections by a narrow margin of around 270,000 votes, refused to accept the results and immediately called for a recount, though other opposition spokespeople called instead for a “complete audit” of the voting machine receipts.

After first calling on his supporters to take to the streets, leading to violent clashes in which nine people were reportedly killed, Capriles finally formally filed a set of demands to the CNE. Subsequently, on April 18th, the CNE agreed to audit the remaining 46% of boxes of voting machine receipts that had not yet been verified (54% of the boxes had been previously verified in the presence of witnesses from both parties AND signed off by representatives of the Capriles' supporting right-wing opposition).

This decision was made in order to keep the peace, despite the unfounded nature of oppositions complaints, and the fact that according to calculations by David Rosnick of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, the odds that auditing the remaining 46% of votes could reverse the outcome of the election are 1 in 25 thousand trillion. What many fail to mention in their most recent articles is that Capriles accepted the CNE’s April 18th decision to proceed with the audit of the remaining voting receipt boxes, and said that the opposition would participate in the process.

To understand the baseless nature of the opposition claims, one must understand the secure nature of voting in Venezuela:

When they enter the voting cubicle, Venezuela’s are faced with a voting machine, which they access by electronic thumbprint recognition. After the voter has made their selection the machine produces a paper receipt, the voter then checks that this matches their vote, and posts it into a sealed ballot box, before finally signing and leaving a finger print in a voting record book to confirm that the receipt accurately represented the choice they had made using the electronic voting system.

Having had their request for all full audit of the boxes of paper receipts met, the opposition now claims that it is in these books the fraud has been committed. However no complaints were made by voters to the CNE that their paper receipt failed to match the vote they had made.

It is clear that, in their latest demand for all full count of the 15 million signatures and fingerprints found in the voting record books, the opposition is intent on trying to maintain a climate of uncertainty and political tension for as long as possible.

3)British & Irish Official Election Witnesses Write to the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee

The official election witnesses from Britain and Ireland to Venezuela’s April election have written to Richard Ottoway MP saying that,

“In Venezuela, we witnessed why Nobel Prize winner and former US president Jimmy Carter called the country’s voting system the “best in the world”. The digital voting system and its system of allocating everybody a paper receipt makes it almost impossible to commit fraud. The rigour of the process signed off by both campaign teams in the localities before, during and after the election as well as independent observers, makes the system much more secure than that in the UK. That is why we are assured that the election result, whilst close, was a fair and accurate reflection of the people’s will.”

Venezuela’s government has rejected comments made by U.S. President Barack Obama about the country and accused Washington of being behind right-wing violence that has followed its recent presidential election. A foreign ministry statement said that Obama’s “interventionist declaration” will lead toward deteriorating relations between the countries and “confirms to the world the policy of aggression his government maintains against our country.”

The statement referred to comments the U.S. president made to Spanish-language television network Univision during his trip to Mexico and Costa Rica. In the interview, Obama wouldn’t say if the United States recognizes Nicolas Maduro as Venezuela’s new president following his election on April 14, that has been recognised around the world. Obama also said that reports indicate that basic principles of human rights, democracy, press freedom and freedom of assembly were not observed in Venezuela following the election.

5)Successful Visits to ‘Southerm Cone’ see Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay Issue Strong Support for Nicolas Maduro as the Legitimate President of Venezuela

Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff: "I'm sure that with President Maduro, I will have the same high-level relationship that I had with President Chávez."

President Nicolas Maduro’s successful visit to Brazil concluded his recent tour of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) member states. The visit, the first overseas trip of Maduro as President comes ahead of another event at the end of June when he will officially take the Chair of Mercosur.

Visiting regional heavyweight Brazil, Maduro won a seal of approval from President Dilma Rousseff, who pledged to expand trade with Venezuela. A day earlier, Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner had mobilized pro-Venezuela activists to fill a Buenos Aires soccer stadium and signed a range of bilateral cooperation accords with Maduro, and prior to this Maduro visited Uruguay.

17 may. 2013

Caracas, 16 May. AVN.- As the new independence of the country and new 21 century socialism described Thursday Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro the revolution started by supreme commander Hugo Chavez and his legacy.

"It means the new independence of the Venezuelan homeland and the Latin American great homeland," said Maduro starting his government of the street in Barinas state, adding that Chavismo is the new socialism assumed by people to build a homeland.

"Chavez and Chavismo are more alive than ever and they will be alive for the years to come, with his work strengthening today as collective effort," said Maduro.

As a matter of fact, he said that through civic-military unity, the Bolivarian Government is shaping a new system of people and efficient administration, since it inherited Chavez's patriot and pro-independence legacy.

As Barinas is Chavez's hometown, Maduro took the opportunity to greet the entire family Chavez Frias, people and Armed Force who saw growing "the giant of the 21 century, Commander of all times, our father, guide, breeder of the new homeland, Hugo Chavez."

The Government of the Street is being deployed Thursday at states Barinas and Tachira, informed last Wednesday night President Nicolas Maduro.

"We will take the proposals raised by commander Hugo Chavez in the different hubs of development to those states. One of them is economics, industrial development and trade. We will meet with socialist and private ventures to achieve it," Maduro said.

16 may. 2013

About twenty United States scholars, among them writer Noam Chomsky and film maker Oliver Stone, sent a letter to Margaret Sullivan, Public Editor for The New York Times, urging Sullivan to investigate the biased reporting on Venezuela and particularly when dealing with the government of the leader of the Bolivarian Revolution, Hugo Chavez.

The petition claims the New Yor Times has used a language too close to the U.S. government’s positions in the past four years, referring to Chavez as an “autocrat,” “despot,” “authoritarian ruler” and a “caudillo” in its news coverage.

Besides, “when opinion pieces are included, the Times has published at least fifteen separate articles employing such language, depicting Chavez as a ‘dictator’ or ‘strongman’.”

The experts compare The New York Times’s characterization of Hugo Chavez to that of Honduras in 2009, when president Manuel Zelaya was overthrown and replaced by Roberto Micheletti, and then by Porfirio Lobo.

“Times contributors have never used such terms to describe Micheletti, who presided over the coup regime after Zelaya’s removal, or Porfirio Lobo, who succeeded him. Instead, the paper has variously described them in its news coverage as ‘interim,’ ‘de facto,’ and ‘new’.”

The signed petition reminds as well that Porfirio Lobo assumed the Honduran presidency after winning elections which “were marked by repression and censorship.” Also, “since the coup, Honduras’s military and police have routinely killed civilians.”

In addition, the scholars explain that “while some human rights groups have criticized the Chávez government, Venezuela has had no pattern of state security forces murdering civilians, as is the case in Honduras.”

Over the past 14 years, they say, 18 elections have been carried out in Venezuela, which have been deemed free and fair by leading international authorities.

“Jimmy Carter praised Venezuela’s elections, among the 92 the Carter Center has monitored, as having ‘a very wonderful voting system.’ He concluded that ‘the election process in Venezuela is the best in the world’.”

The petition has been made due to a column released by the NYT editor last April, in which she said that “although individual words and phrases may not amount to very much in the great flow produced each day, language matters. When news organizations accept the government’s way of speaking, they seem to accept the government’s way of thinking. In The Times, these decisions carry even more weight.”

In this connection, the US scholars request coherence between her speech and the Times’s coverage of certain topics.

“We urge you to examine this disparity in coverage and language use, particularly as it may appear to your readers to track all too closely the U.S. government’s positions regarding the Honduran government (which it supports) and the Venezuelan government (which it opposes)—precisely the syndrome you describe and warn against in your column” the scholars say in the letter.

14 may. 2013

Caracas, 13 May. AVN.- The representative of Venezuela to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Marcelo Resende, praised "the behavior, attitude and commitment of the government of Venezuela on food security and nutrition, not only in its speech but as an integral component of its policy of international cooperation."

In a press release issued Monday by the organization, Resende highlighted the words of President Nicolas Maduro, who during his inauguration he said: "Ambassador of FAO, in my Government we will continue the legacy of Chavez: 'Zero Hunger' and we will do what needs to be done."

During the recent tour to Mercosur partner countries, conducted by the Venezuelan president, new agreements on food and nutritional security were signed, "which shows the commitment of the Venezuelan government for the topic and strengthens cooperation in this matter," Resende stressed.

Similarly, he stresses "the strengthening of technical capacities for the development of agriculture in the country as well as the solidarity of food trade between the neighboring countries."

For FAO representation in Venezuela, it is cause for celebration that Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff supports her counterpart in the project of making "agri-food revolution" in the Bolivarian nation.

"The understandings held with the Government aim to place the issue of food sovereignty and the issue of supply in their cooperation treaties by addressing two dimensions: first, boosting domestic production of agriculture by promoting the exchange of technical experiences with neighboring countries and, on the other hand, boosting solidarity and fair trade of foods from family and peasant agriculture," said the representative.

The President said that the recognition of the Latin American Parliament happened despite the "lobby" that right wing deputies did on this and other parliamentary bodies in Latin America

Denounced and increasingly isolated is the Venezuelan fascist right wing, said on Saturday the President of the Republic, Nicolas Maduro, at an assembly he conducted with the workers of the building materials factory "27 de Febero", located in Guarenas, Miranda state .

He mentioned the support that the Latin American Parliament gave yesterday to the Bolivarian government and democracy in the country.

He said the recognition of the Latin American Parliament happened despite the "lobby" that right wing deputies did on this and other parliamentary bodies in Latin America.

"They lobbied, called to Washington, what they missed was asking them to invade Venezuela," he critiziced.

He stressed that the Latin American Parliament, the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), Petrocaribe, the Caribbean Community (Caricom) and the countries of the world, have acknowledged him as the President of Venezuela, except the United States, a country which keeps a close relation to the right wing in the country.

To deal with this right wing that, just as the United States disowns him, recommended to have "much firmness, love and patience" because after being denounced, it gets increasingly isolated.

11 may. 2013

Caracas, 03 May. AVN.- After former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles decided not to recognize results of the April 14 elections, the media and right-wing sectors in Venezuela coincided in a plot which includes calls to riots and a scenario for a coup d'État to justify foreign intervention.

The pattern of fraud has been the most used strategy for the opposing sector to foster hostility among its supporters, expressed among some leaders in the face of frustrated attempts to seize power through elections; the media, in turn, have always work to echo these kind of spirits.

"A poor victory for the heir," "Tight elections" and "You were defeated" were the main headlines on April 15 at newspapers Tal Cual, El Nacional and El Universal, respectively. They echoed Capriles' frustration after his defeat on April 14, when irreversible results were released by the National Electoral Council (CNE).

Fraud claims on behalf of opponents when results do not favor them go back a long way. Up to date, Venezuela still awaits alleged evidences against Hugo Chavez's victory in 2004, in a recall referendum where he was ratified by over 59 per cent of voters.

"This is a meanwhile government," "We will not recognize results until each ballot is counted," were Capriles' words, highlighted at screens and front pages, to disown the will of people who elected Maduro as Venezuelan President in an automated voting process, acknowledged worldwide and in which manual vote counting is not longer used.

Nevertheless, on Tuesday 16 April, El Nacional front page headlined with a quote of the losing candidate: "Maduro is an illegitimate president."

Vented anger

Precisely on April 15, a few hours after the election result was released, Capriles convened a press conference aired live in local private TV station Globovision. Amidst a violent speech, he called on his supporters to vent their fury and express their anger with synchronized banging of pots and pans, as well as protests at regional CNE seats.

Capriles' call was followed by the death of nine Venezuelans who supported the Bolivarian Revolution and 78 wounded. It was the consequence of sustained attacks against state-run health care centers, food markets, headquarters of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). Also, a 12-year-old child was murdered when a car ran over groups celebrating Maduro's victory.

Before that regrettable scenario, writer Luis Britto Garcia told Venezuelan News Agency (AVN) that "one may theorize that it corresponds to a subsequent plan, which is discrediting the elections with a view to justify a foreign intervention."

Britto Garcia explained that the opposition's plan is "to create a condition of disturbance and protests and invent a repressive answer on behalf of the Government." The writer refers to front pages as El Nacional's, dated on April 16, with a picture of young people – lying face-up, hands in the air, without a scratch – at Francisco Fajardo highway, eastern Caracas, in front of a ring of the Bolivarian National Gaurd, with the headline: "Repressed actions of demonstrators at Francisco Fajardo highway and other roads of the capital."

However, nothing is said about attacks which caused the death and injuries of supporters of the Bolivarian Revolution, or they are treated as common crimes in the crime report page, taken out of political context and separated from Capriles' call to violence.

"In this case, the media and media outlets in general, have basically hidden the happening of these events, they have said that those things did not occur," Luis Britto Garcia stated.

Along the days since April 15, private media, in tune with the former presidential candidate, continue with a campaign for an non-existing recounting of votes (54% of the total vote is audited by citizens, poll watchers of all political parties involved in the process and military officers); adding claims of an alleged persecution of public officials who support the opposition, though not a single employee has denounced it; banging of pots and pans at night; and Capriles' supporters allegedly wounded by state-run security bodies.

Unceasing plan

Writer Luis Britto Garcia insisted on affirming that the goal of the Right is to "legitimize or apologize a foreign intervention, the United States intervention or legitimize a domestic military coup supported by the United States."

To achieve that goal, Britto detailed, the media "have established fake patterns of answers from the State." For instance, he warned about a picture showing repression in Egypt in 2011, which is used by the correspondent to Venezuela of Spanish newspaper ABC. Ludmila Vinogradoff, as "evidence" of alleged violence on behalf of the State. The picture was subsequently eliminated from the blog.

"They have even turned to faking, seeking to cause a wave of protests, which calmed down on the other side," he added. Thus, he said that the strategy of using violence to breed ground for a coup d'état and foreign intervention failed.

As a matter of fact, Britto Garcia recalled: "We have already seen that alleging riots, disturbance and protests, imperial forces have destroyed countries, for instance the case of Libya."

Before those failed attempts, Britto comments that maybe the United States had already questioned Venezuela's elections by means of its Secretary of State, John Kerry, but it realized that the plan would not take effect since it did not have the support of the Armed Force and because there is not such a disturbance among the population.

"We have to be on the alert because these are constant plans, plans which are not discarded but continue in a drawer and ready to be put into practice when the situation allows to."

Though opponent's violent actions had a peak on April 15-16, were controlled by the Bolivarian Government and state-run institutions; and the Electoral Power provides Capriles all legal means to audit the process, Britto Garcia warns people not to lower their guard.

Last April 24, in a press conference aired live at Globovision, the anti-Chavez leader affirmed that the Government had "stolen the voting process." According to the defeated candidate, the process has not finished and the electoral arbiter does not exist, the same as 7,575,704 Venezuelans who decided to continue the road to socialism.

After CNE accepted to audit the remaining 46 per cent of the voting the process, Capriles dismissed his claim for an audit and decided to contest the election at Supreme Court of Justice.

This chapter joins to one of the darkest files of the opposition in Venezuela's contemporary history: the 11 April 2002 coup d'état, which resulted in 19 people dead and several wounded among revolutionary and opposing files. In these two opportunities, the media have toed the line of destabilization.

10 may. 2013

So far has been audited a 100% of the sample selected in the states Capital District, Anzoategui, Apure, Aragua, Barinas and Bolivar

Photo: Referential.

During the third day of the extended citizen verification in phase 2, were checked 354 boards from the states Barinas (104), Bolivar (181) and Carabobo (69). In total, were counted 143,885 paper ballots to verify that a 99.98% of them agree with that contained in the Voting Minutes and what was totaled by the National Tabulation Center.

During the audit journey it was found that there are not significant discrepancies between the voter's intent manifested in the voting receipts and the tally sheets issued by the machine. Also, there were no cases of ballots with differences against the counting that were not duly substantiated in the records.

Today was completed the 100% of the sample selected in the states Capital District, Anzoategui, Apure, Aragua, Barinas and Bolivar.

In the record of this third audit journey was registered the assistance of auditing technicians from the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) Poder Laboral; Patria para Todos(PPT), Nueva Vision para mi Pais (NUVIPA) and eight teachers from the Central University of Venezuela (UCV) who served as external auditors.

Was also registered in the minutes the absence of representatives of the organization for political purposes Democratic Unity Board (MUD), which was the requester of this extension of the Citizen Verification Audit, Phase 2.

9 may. 2013

Caracas, 08 May. AVN.- The President of the Republic, Nicolas Maduro proposed Tuesday the creation of a Central Workers Union for the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), in order to re-articulate the labor movement in Latin America.

"When are we going to have a powerful bloc of Latin America and the Caribbean? We already have CELAC. We should have the block of union workers and workers of CELAC and place a headquarters. If we can carry out these proposals, we offer Caracas as a headquarters of the CELAC, where converge Central America, Caribbean and South America," said Maduro during a meeting held at the headquarters of the Inter-Union Workers Assembly of Uruguay.

He highlighted the achievements of the working class in Uruguay and Venezuela, which "have shown the ability to harmonize the experiences in both union and Labor movements and the joint development opportunities."

On the other hand, he indicated that as part of the Venezuelan economic experience is the state-run electricity company new structuring, which has the service area and the industrial area.

"In this way we are building a new economy pointing to vital areas of our countries. It is about an egalitarian, socialist economy," he added.

Transnational capital Independence

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro urged Latin American working class to be independent of transnational capital and defend governments aiming to national independence.

During the meeting with Uruguayan workers, the labor leader said that the commander Hugo Chavez "always maintained that Venezuela needed a working class critical but loyal to the project of the country, independent of the empire, of the great capital, but with government, progressive, leading the country responsibilities."

He called on workers to "defend governments and leaders moving towards the true and full independence of our countries, independent working class of the empire."

Thus, he insisted on promoting open discussion of "new concepts for a new reality, for the new horizon that is opening right now, in order to unite very solidly social and political stability of transforming projects."

"The working class together with a project and critical capacity to make different proposals," said Maduro.

7 may. 2013

Statements by the U.S. President reveal a profound ignorance of the reality of our nation and an interventionist attitude

Official Communiqué.

Following, the text:

The BOLIVARIAN REPUBLIC OF VENEZUELA, represented by the President of the National Assembly, the President of the Supreme Court, the President of the National Electoral Council, the Comptroller General of the Republic and President of the Ethics Council, the General Prosecutor of the Republic and the Ombudsman, inspired by the universal principles of self-determination of peoples, respect for the sovereignty and will of the people, Latin American unity, solidarity and brotherhood among nations, speak out categorically rejecting the statements made to a social communication media in Mexico City, on May 3, 2013, by the President of the United States of America, BARACK OBAMA, which reveal a profound ignorance of the reality of our nation and an interventionist attitude, and therefore declare:

FIRST: That the opinions issued by the Government of the United States, are at odds with the most basic rules of international life, unaware that our peoples have undergone profound changes as the product of intense struggles for independence, which were consolidated in 1999 when the People of Venezuela adopted the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and began a real participatory democracy.

Therefore, the statements made by President Barack Obama, translate into interference, by once again pretending the U.S. government to adopt colonialist practices that have tainted the Latin American nations and the world, violating the right to self-determination as in the case of peoples to which it has submitted to a status of neo-colonies, and practicing over the past century invasions of brotherly countries in our Americas.

SECOND: That it is evident the effect in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela of the principles, guarantees and rights of citizenship allowing the full exercise of their political rights of expression, free flow of information, voting and sovereign will of the people, in the context of attachment to the principle of progressive human rights.

THIRD: As Venezuelans we stated that our rights to freedom, independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and self-determination, are inalienable, therefore, it is our duty to defend our country and the interests of the Nation.

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is a country loving peace, solidarity and the common good, respectful of human rights and true to our history of struggle and freedom.

Under the facts presented, and by force and cogency of its content, the representatives of the aforementioned bodies, do ADHERE to the pronouncement of the Chancellery of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.

At the end of the Street Government journey on Monday in the municipalities of Chacao, Baruta and El Hatillo in Miranda state, will visit Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil

The President of the Republic, Nicolas Maduro announced that, on Tuesday May 7, will begin a tour through Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil, countries of the Southern Common Market (Mercosur).

He reported that at the conclusion of the Street Government Journey on Monday through the municipalities of Chacao, Baruta and El Hatillo in Miranda state, will start this tour for three days on the South American nations.

On Tuesday will be in the Eastern Republic of Uruguay to meet with the head of state of this country, José Mujica.

While on Wednesday will arrive in the Republic of Argentina, and meet with his counterpart, Cristina Fernádez de Kirchner.

Finally, on Thursday will meet with the president of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, and her Government Team on Brazilian soil.

"It's a tour through Mercorsur to ratify the path of deep integration with Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil to further complete the perfect equation for energy, financial, economic production, social, cultural and political integration," said the Venezuelan President in an act of tribute to the memory of Commander Hugo Chavez, in the Mountain Headquarters, in the city of Caracas.

6 may. 2013

Caracas, 05 May. AVN.- An agreement to start the creation of an economic zone which allows investment, trade and common development among Petrocaribe member states has been passed during the presidential summit of the alliance with a view to solidify energy, economic and finance stability in the region.

Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, with the consensus of all 19 delegations, approved the beginning of works to create the zone, which extends frontiers of an alliance that used to limit to oil matters.

Maduro said the creation of this commercial exchange space goes beyond energy matters, it aims at "investing, trading to carry out joint productive, tourism projects."

In turn, Oil and Mining minister Rafael Ramirez explained that the economic zone will allow to continue strengthening the alliance in the region and go beyond oil matters for an economic and commercial development.

The proposal had progressed under the leader of the Bolivarian Revolution, Hugo Chavez and now it has been passed under president Nicolas Maduro, said Ramirez.

Petrocaribe member states have also passed the joining of Honduras and Guatemala as full members of the alliance.

Also, it was passed a proposal to start a plan aimed at improving air connections among Petrocaribe member states.

"We are prepared to make an alliance as with public as private ventures to establish connections in Petrocaribe zone," explained president Maduro.

As a matter of fact, he recalled that a Surinamese citizen must travel to the United States to arrive in Caracas. "It is unforgivable in the 21 century," he added.

Furthermore, it was passed an agreement for a special plan to supply fertilizers, which he emphasized as a significant issue of Petrocaribe Economic Zone.

Caracas, 05 May. AVN.- The recent statements said by the United States president Barack Obama, about Venezuela's political situation, confirm to the world his policy of aggression against this country, its people and institutions, denounced the Bolivarian Government on Saturday.

A communique read by foreign minister Elias Jaua in nationwide radio and television hookup on Saturday affirms that "Venezuela condemns with the strength of the Bolivarian dignity the statements said by the president of the United States, Barack Obama, who attacks once again the legitimate government of Venezuela."

Following, the complete text of the communique:

Statement

"I protest because I will not allow

the Government and the rights

of Venezuela to be insulted or despised.

By defending them against Spain, a great

part of our population has disappeared

and the remaining part

longs for deserving the same fate.

It is the same for Venezuela,

to fight against Spain or

against the entire world,

if the whole world offends it.

Letter of protest from Simon Bolivar to Mr. Irvine,

Agent of the American Government. Angostura,

October 7, 1818

The Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela rejects with its strongest Bolivarian dignity, the statements made by the President of the United States, Barack Obama, in Mexico City on May 3, 2013.

Once again, President Obama attacks the legitimate Venezuelan Government, which was elected on April 14 through a transparent electoral process, whose results were recognized by electoral accompaniers coming from the whole continent and other countries of the world, including the Electoral Mission of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) as well as by all the Governments of Latin America and the Caribbean and other continents.

By stating that the people of Venezuela deserve "to determine their own destiny free from the kinds of practices that the entire hemisphere generally has moved away from", President Obama seems to ignore that during the 14 years of the Bolivarian Government, the Venezuelan people has adopted an electoral system that is constitutionally recognized through the creation of a new Branch, the Electoral Branch, whose governing body is the National Electoral Council (CNE).

President Obama, please get informed. The National Electoral Council has overcome those terrible practices that used to violate people's will, and that the U.S. supported in order to have governments docile to its mandates. This was attained by establishing an automated voting system, by means of which a voter casts his/her vote through a voting machine that totals the votes at the end of the process and transmits the results to the CNE counting center. Additionally, a series of audits are carried out before, during and after the electoral process, guaranteeing, this way, the accuracy of the data shown by the respective ballots.

Similarly, you, President Obama, affirm that there are reports indicating that basic principles of human rights, democracy, press freedom and freedom of assembly are not observed in Venezuela. Although such unfounded statements are not surprising at all, we are obliged to give a response already known by that "hemisphere", i.e. that in Venezuela human rights are totally and absolutely respected, since Commander Hugo Chavez took the lead of the Venezuelan State promoting the composition of a new Constitution which has the most advanced catalog of human rights of the whole region.

Since then, several institutions were created to ensure the respect and greater access to human rights and several new public policies allowing all people currently living in this dignified country to have more and better guaranteed access to civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, as well as to the collective rights of our peoples. Mr. President Obama, the people of Venezuela fully exercise the freedoms and rights that U.S. society is still a long way from reaching.

Finally, Venezuelan people, especially families of those people who died on April 15, 2013, are outraged by your fallacious claim that "the entire hemisphere has been watching the violence, the protests, the crackdowns on the opposition". Certainly, in spite of the self-censorship in the media by the large "information" corporations against Venezuela, the hemisphere witnessed the political murder of nine compatriots, Bolivarian leaders, pro-Chavez people committed to our revolution led today by President Nicolas Maduro, under the doctrine bequeathed to us by the Eternal Commander of the Bolivarian Revolution, Hugo Chavez. This murder was due to the fact that the main losing opposition candidate did not respect the election results, aroused hate and advocated violence on the streets.

Several acts are added to the violent record of these opposition groups, namely: the storming of several health centers in the presence of Cuban doctors as an act of xenophobia, the arson attacks on public buildings and properties and democratic political organizations' establishments, among other acts of vandalism. Neither you nor your government has expressed concern about these facts. This is simply the imperialist moral, which is of double standards.

As for the other matters, what the entire hemisphere and humanity watch in horror is the events regarding the illegal prison of Guantanamo where, for more than a decade, torture and other cruel treatment degrading of human beings are practiced. This is one of the most shameful chapters of human history. The noble of the world are shocked because you have failed in your promise made in 2008 and 2012 to shut down that prison causing embarrassment to the people of the United States, which is a great people.

Mr. President Obama, the Government of President Nicolas Maduro, inheritor of the ideals of Commander Chavez, and the Plan of our Homeland for the 2013-2019 period, has the historical goal of achieving peace on the planet as the only possible way of saving the human race. We are a peaceful country and we work really hard along with our Latin-American and Caribbean brothers in order to achieve the true union of our peoples, with a view to being free and sovereign and consolidating ourselves as a region of peace.

Your false, harsh and interfering statements do not help to improve the bilateral relations between U.S. and Venezuela; on the contrary, they further deteriorate them. This only shows to the world the politics of aggression that you and your government keep against our nation. President Obama, your statements promote the emergence of a Pinochet in Venezuela. You must assume your responsibility before history; as for us, we will assume ours, which is to defend the Peace and Independence of Bolivar's Homeland.

We alert all the independent Governments of the world, the peoples and their political and social organizations to the plan of the U.S. Government of provoking in Venezuela the so-called "dogs war", in order to justify an imperialistic intervention. May our friends in the world know that we, as descendants of our Liberator Simon Bolivar and our Commander Hugo Chavez, are ready to defend our right to be free from any form of imperial domination.

We call all friends of the Venezuelan cause to display the most active solidarity with our people. Today, just as Bolivar said in 1818, we repeat "fortunately, it has been frequent to see a bunch of free people defeating powerful empires".

Compatriots, let us take David's sling to face this new Goliath's aggression.

5 may. 2013

Caracas, 04 May. AVN.- The Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela condemned the meddling statements of United States president Barack Obama, who refused to recognize the constitutional government of president Nicolas Maduro.

A communique read by foreign minister Elias Jaua in nationwide radio and television hookup on Saturday affirms that "Venezuela condemns with the strength of the Bolivarian dignity the statements said by the president of the United States, Barack Obama, who attacks once again the legitimate government of Venezuela."

"According to our view the Venezuelan people must elect their leaders in legitimate elections," said Obama during his visit to Mexico, where he also affirmed to have reports of alleged shortage of "human rights, democracy, freedom of the press and freedom of meeting" in Venezuela.

In the face of such statements, Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro said that Obama's visit to Latin American nations was arranged to be carried out after a series of violent actions in Venezuela, against its people and state-run institutions, so as to raise the need for an intervention.

As a matter of fact, he said that violence was provoked on behalf of opposing deputies in parliament on April 30 and violent actions were planned for May 1, during the workers' march. Obama arrived in Mexico on May 2.

"It was planned so that in Venezuela would occur, two days before his arrival in Mexico and Costa Rica, serious violent events. That is the reason why we saw the violent provocations on April 30," Maduro stressed.